Don't Be a Stranger!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Shannon
drew the curtain and I found myself trapped in the room, with only Madame Elizabeth
as my company for the next God knew how long. I glanced at the woman sitting behind
a round table covered with a velvet cloth. A stack of harmless looking cards
lay in front of her.

“Hello, young man,” she greeted with an
elaborate flair of her hand. “Have a seat.”

I
retuned her greeting with a tight smile then, with great reluctance, sank into
the chair opposite her. To begin with, I had no idea what the heck this tarot
and psychic crap was all about, except the possibility of predicting one’s luck
or discovering what might happen in the future. Remaining silent, I rested my
clammy palms on my thighs.

“So,
what are you looking to see? Love, adventure . . . perhaps happiness?” she queried,
spreading the colorful cards across the table in a single sweep. The cards
fanned across the surface like fallen dominoes. In perfect sync.

“I
do—don’t know,” I stammered. A jerk shot through my tight shoulders before I
could stop it.

Madame
Elizabeth’s gaze met mine for a brief moment. Although her eyes were hidden
underneath red-rimmed glasses, it was obvious she saw my discomfort, and it put
me on the defensive. The woman was stunning in a disturbing way. It felt like
she could see right through me, as if she knew my secrets, and that in itself
was disconcerting.

I
studied her while she perused the cards. Her hair was tied in a loose bun on
top of her head and she wore a magician type tunic which reminded me of
mystical characters. I had the urge to roll my eyes when she began playing the
part, momentarily closing her eyes and breathing deep. Hands splayed on the
cards, she caressed each one before she finally collected the stack. Shuffling
the cards once, she then laid a few back down on the table with quick and
precise movements. With utmost concentration, she studied them, choosing one.

She
flipped the card for me to check. “What do you see?”

Considering
I had no idea what to look for, I stared at the card. “I see a circle with four distinct colors on
the edges.”

Nodding,
she dropped the card and turned another one. This time, her thin, almost
invisible brows furrowed. “With every curse comes a blessing,” she said.

The very moment she uttered those words, the
hair at the back of my neck rose and I experienced a ‘what the hell’ moment.

About the Author

Lorenz Font discovered her love of writing after reading a celebrated
novel that inspired one idea after another. She is currently enjoying
the buzz from her vampire novels Hunted and Tormented, the first and second book of The Gates Legacy trilogy, Indivisible Line, a romantic thriller, and Feather Light, an erotic romance.

Lorenz’s
perfect day consists of writing and lounging on her garage couch, aka
the office, with a glass of her favorite cabernet while listening to her
ever-growing music collection. She enjoys dabbling in different genres,
with an intense focus on angst and the redemption of flawed characters.
Her fascination with romantic twists is a mainstay in all her stories.

Lorenz
lives in California with her husband, children, and two demanding dogs.
She divides her time between her full-time job as a hospital office
manager and her busy writing schedule.